After owning a Jeanneau SO 40 for about 20 months we ran into a problem with the Webasto heater. As advised by Sure Marine in Seattle Washington, diesel fuel in the United States does not live up to Europe's standards for cleanliness. The heater simply stopped running due to a combination foul up in the burner and water invulsion. As advised, to remedy the problem we had to have the heater cleaned out and the system rewired so that the Webasto will burn on high all the time. This required a new thermostat, new wiring, various other parts and considerable amount of time and money. We also had to install an additional fuel filter. I am satisfied with the heater's performance when it is running, however.

I would advise anyone who will be buying a Jeanneau destined for North America to have the Webasto installed locally after the boat arrives. Unless Jeanneau decides to change their installation specifically for the U.S. problem, save yourself the grief and install the heater when the boat arrives on the North American shore.

UPDATE:

I would now advise anyone who will be buying a Jeanneau destined for North America to have the Webasto reconfigured for U.S. diesel locally after the boat arrives as after going to the boat show in Seattle and revisiting the subject I found that the factory installation costs for the Webasto are so much cheaper versus US installation costs, so the better route would be to have the factory install and then do the revision after the boats get to the US. I did all the revisions with the help of a friend and it ran me about $275.00 New owners could probably have the revision redone for maybe $500 to 700 but it would still probably be better to let the factory do all the heating ducts and drilling and still much cheaper in total.